Ed Miliband got a bit ahead of himself today, boldly claiming that Labour had “won the argument” on green policies. The classic Corbyn defeat line…
Not only has the GB Energy bill not actually been passed in parliament yet, (nor can ministers actually say how much it will cost), the plans have so far only shown to be hugely expensive. New clean energy projects will land taxpayers with a £10 billion cost, while Net Zero Watch research suggests a loophole in Government contracts could cost households up to £180 million a year. Meanwhile, oil and gas industry leaders warn Miliband’s plans spell disaster for UK investment and jobs in the energy sector, sending the UK down a path of worrying reliance on foreign imports. All the while Labour’s much-feared capital gains tax raid is deterring green energy investors, whom Labour are relying on, from bankrolling the plan. Not the first time Miliband has taken a misplaced victory lap…
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has been doing a misplaced victory lap on social media over the government securing 131 new clean energy projects. The first bidding round for green energy projects took place under the Tories in 2023, though no deals were made as the subsidies were too low, so they increased the subsidies for the 2024 round. Miliband upped them even further, doubling the allowance. Not solely a Labour – or Miliband – win, then…
This isn’t something to boast about, especially since the expansion will saddle energy bill payers with a £10 billion cost. Consumers will end up paying foreign companies £82 per MWh in government subsidies to build these solar and wind farms. Meanwhile, Net Zero Watch has research that suggests a loophole in Government contracts could cost households up to £180 million a year. Their director aptly said:
“How many times were we subjected to the chorus of ‘wind is cheap’? That refrain now rings hollow and these results show Miliband’s green utopianism to be even more costly and impractical than once feared.”
Still, Reeves continues to blame the Tories for the surprise “black hole” as she prepares for the “painful” budget that’s sure to see tax rises for working people. Labour are doing as they always do: tax and spend, tax and spend…
The government has started hiring on LinkedIn for state energy investment vehicle GB Energy through DESNZ. So far thirteen mid-level positions are being advertised, all for £52,985 and spread across London, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh and Salford. £688,805 in taxpayer-funded salaries up for grabs…
All the job adverts say GB Energy only wants its progenitor staff in the office 40-60% of the times and offers “a variety of flexible working options” which includes working from home. On top of that comes a neat £14,305 towards being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Meanwhile – up go the energy bills…
William Yarwood, media campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, sounds a warning note:
“GB Energy has barely started walking and the civil service is already hiring copious carers to babysit it while it teeths. The government needs to make sure that GB Energy does not turn into a taxpayer funded jolly for busy body bureaucrats.”
Interviews take place on the 16th of next month over Microsoft Teams. Start as you mean to go on…
Ofgem has announced this morning energy bills are to rise by £149 a year from October as it raises the price cap to £1,717. A 10% hike…
Starmer may have outlasted Truss on the number of days held in office, though this is something he’s sure to not be celebrating. Especially as Starmer was so quick to slam the Tories in 2022 when the cap rose, “devastating” people across the country. And as usual promising the land of milk and honey with Labour’s much-publicised “fully costed plan to freeze energy bills“. Another U-Turn there…
Labour issued a panicked 1,334-word “Political Briefing” press release this morning pointing the finger squarely at the Tories, (despite the energy cap actually being lowered in the last few months of Sunak’s government). Ed Miliband took to X to blast the “toxic legacy” they left behind. It’s worth noting that during the election Miliband banged on about Labour policies saving households £300 a year. He’s been told from above to drop that promise now…
Left-wing politicos were winded by Biden’s genius economic strategy of… protectionism. The Inflation Reduction Act, a $369 billion subsidy programme for US-based companies, was met with breathless reactions from Labour politicians in the UK. Ed Miliband accused Grant Shapps of being “deeply complacent” by failing to replicate the policy and said plainly of the “global race for green jobs“: “We should match the ambition of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and stop moaning about it.” The IRA’s early results don’t bode well for its replication in the UK…
The FT now reports 40% of the largest manufacturing investments announced as part of Biden’s flagship bills have been paused or delayed. High costs and slowing demand are kiboshing eco-investment projects – foregoing the “green growth” that was promised with them. Reeves announced that “globalisation as we know it is dead” while unveiling Labour’s replica of the Biden subsidy programme. Labour is starting to realise the myth of “state-driven growth” won’t save them now they’re actually in power…
Despite ‘control freak‘ Sue Gray’s not-so-svengali wrangling causing chaos with government appointments, Labour SpAd teams are coming together and beginning normal operation. Over at DESNZ Ed Miliband’s squad brings some unorthodox ideology to the table…
Miliband is retaining his long-term advisers. Guiding the UK’s energy policy operation will be climate activist Tobias Garnett, the former coordinator of Extinction Rebellion’s legal strategy team who represented the road-gluing activists in court. Garnett believes our trajectory is currently “descending swiftly into a politics of ecofascism forged in the crucible of scarce resources, droughts, floods, climate wars and forced migration.” Doesn’t quite sound like politics that will “tread lightly on people’s lives”…
Also on the team is Jonty Leibowitz, whose passion is arguing for socialist reforms to football that include:
When it comes to his energy brief Leibowitz’ contribution is a policy paper which argues that “regional banking” should be forcibly re-oriented to “financing the energy transition“. Ideas shared by radical Corbynite and “green” bank devotee Miatta Fahnbulleh – recently appointed energy minister…
SpAd Eleanor Salter’s focus is “integrating nature into the climate offer“. Salter thinks a “fundamental shift” is required to deal with the “climate breakdown“, which includes “taking many cars off the roads altogether.” Her other “nature” proposals include allowing anyone to traipse across private property to make “the countryside open to all” but especially to gypsies, whose “access rights are already under threat from the authoritarian Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which seeks to criminalise trespass.” And who would have guessed that Salter once said our “best sources of hope” come from Jeremy Corbyn, and that Extinction Rebellion has been “hugely successful… a great accelerator for activism”…
SpAds are often relied on to temper the barmy ideas of their Cabinet Minister. No chance of that in Ed’s team…
